The present invention is directed to bicycles and, more particularly, to a bicycle derailleur with a flexible base member.
Bicycles are used both for general transportation as well as recreational activities. Sometimes the bicycle is transported to locations away from home before being ridden. As a result, in recent years bicycles have been developed with folding chasses to make them more compact to facilitate transportation.
Many bicycles currently available have multistage transmissions that allow the rider to select a proper gear ratio to accommodate changing riding conditions. Many such transmissions are equipped with a rear derailleur that shifts a drive chain among a plurality of sprockets that are mounted around the rear wheel axle. One conventional derailleur is disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Number 6-227476. The rear derailleur taught in this publication comprises a base member mounted to the bicycle frame, a four-point link mechanism mounted to the base member, and a chain guide coupled to the four-point link mechanism. When this rear derailleur is operated, the four-point link mechanism moves the chain guide laterally onto any one of a plurality of sprockets mounted to the rear wheel axle.
When a conventional derailleur is mounted on a conventional folding bicycle, particularly a bicycle with a frame that folds from front to back, the rear derailleur sometimes interferes with the front wheel when the bicycle is folded. Such interference of the rear derailleur with the front wheel makes it impossible to fold the bicycle as compactly as desired.